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The
role's creation comes after the #MeToo movement rocked the movie
industry but also the opera world with sexual harassment
accusations.
Intimacy director Ita O'Brien will oversee William Shakespeare's
adapted play, 'Antony and Cleopatra', which opens at Barcelona's
Gran Teatre del Liceu opera house on Oct. 28.
O'Brien, who has advised HBO and Netflix productions on intimate
scenes, said that operas have always revolved around dramatic
stories and that historically a performer would arrive into a
city just a few days before an opening, and was not expected to
discuss intimate scenes.
"Without that process of agreement and consent sought, people
were left feeling awkward, harassed, absolutely abused," she
said.
O'Brien, with 40 years of experience in musical theatre and
acting, is the founder of Intimacy On Set which provides support
in the TV and film industry.
At rehearsals, she invites performers to "connect with a hug"
then discuss where they are happy to be touched or feel
uncomfortable.
"We are inviting the performer to really tell us your boundaries
and that's a big shift in the industry," she said.
"Your yes is your yes, your no is your no, and a maybe is a no."
In a recent rehearsal, O'Brien checked that mezzo-soprano
Adriana Bignagni Lesca, who plays Cleopatra's servant Charmian,
was comfortable kissing another woman on the lips, and
supervised scenes in which the performer playing Antony embraces
Cleopatra.
Lesca said there should be an intimacy director in every opera.
"(It) allows us to coordinate the way we do things, we interact,
we kiss … we need to be comfortable with all of this," she said.
Intimacy directors have been used in the production of
television shows, and operas in the United States and Britain
before.
An unsolicited kiss planted on the lips of a female player by
former Spanish soccer federation chief Luis Rubiales in August
sparked national soul-searching in the country over sexism and a
movement entitled "Se Acabo" (It's Over).
In January opera star Placido Domingo faced new accusations of
sexual harassment from a fellow Spanish singer in a television
programme, three years after such claims prompted an apology and
curtailed his career. He has denied any wrongdoing.
(Reporting by Joan Faus, editing by Aislinn Laing and Deborah
Kyvrikosaios)
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